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Missed Fists: Light heavyweight mismatch goes exactly as expected, more

August 27, 2021
Reece Vickerage and Craig Schmitz at a Caged Steel event in Doncaster, England, on Aug. 21, 2021 | @Grabaka_Hitman, Twitter

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

It’s difficult to define what “pure MMA” is and the definition may vary from person to person, but there’s a distinct quality—a texture, if you will—to it and you know it when you see it. This week, we definitely saw it, and I suggest you just lie back, relax, and let it wash over you.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Reece Vickerage vs. Craig Schmitz

First things first, all the respect in the world to both of these fighters for stepping into the cage. Amateur or pro, big show or little show, arena or bingo hall, we clap for anyone that’s willing to strap on the four-ounce gloves and throw hands.

With that said, poor Craig Schmitz.

I want to reiterate that this is an amateur bout, so in all likelihood the organizers could play things fast and loose with the matchmaking. But there’s no way these two should be competing in the same weight class (205 pounds) and there seems to be a considerable skill gap as well.

At least it was over quickly. The noticeably shorter Schmitz takes a nasty leg kick that sits him down and he wisely stays there, letting the follow-up punches clang off of his arms until the referee steps in. Congrats to Reece Vickerage, let’s hope he gets a more appropriate challenge in his next fight.

You can watch the full Caged Steel 26 card free on YouTube.

Murad Umachiev vs. Gadzhimurad Purtiev
Magomed Kurbanov vs. Denis Sulimov

Those of you seeking more high-level fare should head over to the Eagle Fighting Championship YouTube channel, which features free fights from all of their events including Sunday’s EFC 39 event in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

It’s here that we see lightweight Murad Umachiev improve to 2-0 with a disgusting switch knee KO of Gadzhimurad Purtiev:

The announcer called it a “bicycle kick,” which sounds cool even if it’s not entirely accurate. I’ll allow it.

A little higher up the card, lightweight Magomed Kurbanov also improved to 2-0 after locking Denis Sulimov in a choke that is about as tight as you can get without actually popping someone’s head off.

It looks like Kurbanov held on longer than necessary, but I actually think it was just in so deep that it took him time to untangle himself.

Azat Maksum vs. Flavio de Queiroz

Over at Brave CF 53 (available on Brave CF TV) in Almaty, Kazakhstan, we find flyweight prospect Azat Maksum picking up this week’s Humpty Dumpty award for this body-turning KO of Flavio de Queiroz.

If we’re being real, that’s really more of a “You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round” fall than a Humpty Dumpty, but let’s not split hairs here.

Maksum is another killer from Kazakhstan to keep an eye on. He’s just 26 years old and is 13-0 now with his past five opponents having a respectable combined record of 35-7.

Alan Villalba vs. Cristian Gomez
Jonathan Gabriel Martinez vs. Juan da Silva
Facundo Suarez vs. Emmanuel Vallejos

You ever watch one of those events where it just feels like there’s violence in the air (UFC 140 comes to mind immediately for me)? That had to be the case at a Leon Fight event in Buenos Aires this past Sunday because fighters were catching bodies.

Alan Villalba just annihilates Cristian Gomez here:

Pretty sure the knee did the job already, the body just didn’t fall in time to avoid the kick. Too bad.

Jonathan Gabriel Martinez went buck wild on Juan da Silva, throwing pretty much everything at him until a left hand slipped in there and shut da Silva down in just 35 seconds.

And in Facundo Suarez’s pro debut, he flattened 16-fight veteran Emmanuel Vallejos with a 1-2 KO combination that was also logged at a tidy 35 seconds.

Ailin Luciana Perez vs. Alessandra Tainara
Elano Andrade vs. Rogerio Santos

Back to that pure MMA we were talking about, here are a couple of highlights from the first Samurai Fight House show in Bahia, Brazil.

Ailin Luciana Perez improved to 5-0 in the best, most unexpected way after a failed slam attempt turned into an opportunity for a one-shot head kick KO:

The mixing of the martial arts ain’t always pretty, but damn it can be effective.

Please turn your headphones down for this next finish as Elano Andrade’s out-of-nowhere left hand KO caused a commentator’s vocal chords to explode.

Major GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL energy here.

If there was any question that this show is MMA in its purest form, if you wanted to watch it (or watch a replay? It’s unclear) you had to follow the instructions on Instagram and PayPal or Venmo the promotion directly.

Bless their hearts.

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter – @JedKMeshew and @AlexanderKLee – using the hashtag #MissedFists.

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